The more I read of the ETS report the more I like it. This is what the DOE should be doing.
The report does compare gender outcomes within race/ethnic groups, a feature missing in many similar reports. However, I don’t see much discussion (beyond the usual suspects) of why we see those gender gaps. I refuse to believe we can attribute the entire gap to drugs, gangs, etc.
The recommendations are interesting, although I think the report writers give K-12 educators too much of a pass. I especially like the call to disaggregate data by gender. That’s what is missing in No Child Left Behind. Although school districts must collect data on gender gaps, they are not required to do anything about those gaps. That should change when the law is rewritten (odds of that happening? slim to none. Nobody’s in the mood for another layer of accountability).
From the report:
Data must be disaggregated at the federal, state and local levels for all students in all schools. The availability of data is a key element that is missing for all students, including young men of color. There is a need to get more data that can be disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, country of origin, citizenship status, first language and best language; these data may disentangle part of the web of mysteries that still exist regarding men and women of color. There is also a need to collect and disaggregate data by smaller ethnic subpopulations. This is especially true for Asian American/Pacific Islander and Hispanic/Latino students, where these disaggregations can illuminate new findings that may be helpful.